There have several interesting threads recently about collecting fragrances and philosophies behind collections. I'm only about two years into my own journey and have been buying new bottles regularly. (I think I have 42 or 43 bottles now.) And I've been thinking about trying to design an ideal (for me) fragrance wardrobe of 28 bottles: seven for each season. So just a quick poll: what's the ideal collection size for you? And if you'd like to explain in the comments, even better. Thanks, gentlemen.

Well boys, your favorite lover boy just pulled a huge risk… he caught feelings for someone in the fragrance world. 😭 I don’t want to go into too much identifying detail, because this involves another person and I don’t want to put her business out there. But I could use some advice from the older gentlemen here. I met this woman through fragrance and over several conversations, we ended up talking for hours. We had a surprising amount in common, shared interests, similar ways of looking at things, and honestly just had really good chemistry. It was one of the most natural connections I’d had with someone in a long time. Naturally, I caught a crush. The problem was that I couldn’t figure out what the relationship actually was. In person, it was warm, genuine, and incredibly easy. Outside of those interactions, communication was basically nonexistent. I’d invited her to do something outside the usual setting, she seemed receptive, but nothing ever materialized. I tried not to push because I didn’t want to make myself too much of a priority in someone’s life. Then I’d see her again and we’d immediately fall back into these long, meaningful conversations. She’d say things that made me think she genuinely enjoyed having me around and would encourage me to visit more. So I was stuck asking myself: How much do I invest in this? I wasn’t demanding romance. I wasn’t expecting her to owe me anything. I just wanted enough clarity to know whether I should treat this as a friendship, a casual acquaintance, or something that might eventually develop. Eventually I tried reaching out again, and after getting very little response, I tried to catch her in person because I thought an honest conversation would be better than trying to interpret everything through texts. That didn’t really happen. When I finally saw her again, at an event, the warmth I’d become accustomed to wasn’t really there. She was still polite, but the interaction felt much more distant. I was already exhausted and anxious, and unfortunately I handled the moment less smoothly than I’d have liked.